With what i just found out i will go to the source (rifle chamber) next time if this happens before i start blaming reloading equipment. I will be calling H&R tomorrow and find out if they will help me with this problem. So something new learned and hope this helps out someone else with the same problem. So before spending money on a gunsmith to look at your rifle take it take some time to check it yourself first. Remember we are all human and we do make mistakes. Without humans, machines would not know what to do!

It sure sounds like an out of whack chamber to me, from what you describe. Good luck and keep us posted....Rich

I have an H&R Ultra hunter and have reloaded brass and full length resized about 5-6 times and then this happened.Next reload on my 25-06 , starting at min recommeneded start load with new powder and working up to max load. I did not get to recommeneded max load and this happened. Crack appeared on the 1st rnd but I did not noticed until one case extracted and then came apart after hitting the ground. Noticed after about 4 rnds the cases had a crack around the case head. The 5th had almost completely cracked but extracted from chamber. The 6th rnd completely seperated and case got stuck. Did a terrible job of removing case ? Over worked brass? Left a couple of scratches from removing brass,would that scew up the chamber demensions? Have not shot the rifle since then. Just wondering because reloading manual says to full length size cases everytime for break open actions or cases will not extract and that is true. Tried that on my .223 H&R and cases do not extract if not full length resized. Safe to shoot gun or get new barrel for gun?Any insight woulld be helpful?

Yote, I'm trying really hard to understand your problem, but you're kind of jumpin around a bit. Your original post said you got 5 or 6 reloads on your brass before they split. They split due to overworking the brass. Now you're saying that they're crooked or something, that sounds like a new problem. It may in fact be due to some sanding you did to your chamber.

Your first post yesterday said you compared once fired brass and reloaded stuff side by side and that the reloaded stuff was leaning away from the once fired stuff. That sounds more like a reloading problem.

Anyway, it sounds like you were only getting 5 or 6 reloads and wanted to improve on that, but you got a case stuck, scratched the chamber, sanded the chamber, can now see a low spot in the chamber, reloads lean away from fired brass. You have to look at this objectively to determine if this is really an H&R issue. I don't want to be rude about this, and I may in fact be missing some point here, but look at this objectively.

I was getting blown primers on a stock savage 25-06, with factory ammo. Also on light handloads.. It got to the point it would jam the bolt closed, stuck case and all - had to hammer it open. I could only guess the exact cause but knew for sure it wasn’t hot loads, which is what Savage kept telling me. So, I gave up and did a rebarrel – I couldn’t be happier. For a mass produced rifle of such tolerances, it doesn’t take much. Hope you get it resolved.

Start over with the die a little way off the shellholder and size a case. Check the case fit in your rifle. If it is too tight, turn the die down a quarter of a turn and try for fit agin. Repeat until the brass fits your chamber- without being oversized.

Doing this usually ends up with a case way too short for safety and a guarantee that head separation is just around the corner.

Turning a die 1/4th turn changes its height about 18 thousandths. Die threads at 14 per inch have a bit over 71 thousandths between threads. Adjusting a die 1/4th turn at a time will easily get a full length sized case shoulder set back far enough to guarantee head separation really quick with rimless bottleneck cases. Don't change the die height more than 4 thousandths or 1/16th of a turn when searching for the right case headspace to safely and properly fit your chamber. There shouldn't be more than 5 thousandths headspace clearance on a loaded round.

Get a case headspace gage, such as an RCBS Precision Mic or Hornady gage. They'll measure your case headspace from head to shoulder so you can tell when your die's set to set fired case shoulders back no more than 2 thousandths. Best safety, accuracy and case life happens when this is done.

Bart B - great points, which is what I was eluding to in a previous post. But, since he is giving no details we can only guess … yote – can you provide more details, like dimensional data, load info, etc.??

This thread's got some interesting and sometimes dangerous practices posted. Here's a dangerous oneoing this usually ends up with a case way too short for safety and a guarantee that head separation is just around the corner.

Turning a die 1/4th turn changes its height about 18 thousandths. Die threads at 14 per inch have a bit over 71 thousandths between threads. Adjusting a die 1/4th turn at a time will easily get a full length sized case shoulder set back far enough to guarantee head separation really quick with rimless bottleneck cases. Don't change the die height more than 4 thousandths or 1/16th of a turn when searching for the right case headspace to safely and properly fit your chamber. There shouldn't be more than 5 thousandths headspace clearance on a loaded round.

Get a case headspace gage, such as an RCBS Precision Mic or Hornady gage. They'll measure your case headspace from head to shoulder so you can tell when your die's set to set fired case shoulders back no more than 2 thousandths. Best safety, accuracy and case life happens when this is done.

+1 on that suggestion. I blew a few cases on fireforming my 6.5 A.I. until I learned the proper way to do it and leaving a few thou extra clearance in sizing accomplishes the same thing......Rich

This thread's got some interesting and sometimes dangerous practices posted. Here's a dangerous oneoing this usually ends up with a case way too short for safety and a guarantee that head separation is just around the corner.

My initial thought is that if doing that results in a case that is too short for safety, the die is defective. Why do I think that?

I think that because one should be able to screw the FL sizing die down into full firm contact with the shell holder and end up with FL sized brass at the SAAMI spec. The instructions on every FL sizing die I ever owned says to do just that. So I am confused, how does screwing it down to less than contact result in too short a case?